David DeCosse, Catholic theologian, journalist, teacher
@daviddecosse.bsky.social
I'm Director of Religious and Catholic Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, the Jesuit university in Silicon Valley. Keen interests in the moral and theological dimensions of politics and policy.
Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
thenation.com
Archbishop Luis Argüello, president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, is exactly right: “Biopolitics is key to current global power. Life is toyed with, and people — their dreams, hunger, sexuality, and data — are exploited for the sake of profit and power.” www.ncronline.org/news/spanish...
Spanish bishops, church officials condemn politicization of Ceuta migrant crisis
Tens of thousands of migrants recently crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, leaving scores dead and overwhelming the small Spanish territory in North Africa.
ncronline.org
Abe Lincoln vs. the "heritage American" crowd, 1858: It doesn't matter where your ancestors were in 1776. Americans who read the Declaration and affirm its creed "have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote [it] ...and so they are."
Watch it till the end. This is moral clarity -- TMZ understands the moment, and what that Rand Paul kangaroo court was, better than any coverage I've seen so far. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zaO...
This Is Personal
YouTube video by TMZ
youtube.com
How unfair: no World Cup games on television today! What do people expect us to do instead?!
Belgium is a next-level up competition: so good with the ball and with their formation and with winning almost all of the close balls. USMNT can do it but this is a tough one.
Props to the English: They were tough all the way through. From the start, they didn't seem bothered by playing at the Azteca.
Trump ruins everything. By cheating, browbeating, stealing…but never because he thinks that he has to follow rules followed by everyone else and then, within the framework of those rules, be the best in order to win. Textbook case for why he and MAGA are losers. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/u...
Trump Asked FIFA to Review U.S. Player’s Suspension. Now He’s Eligible to Play.
nytimes.com
Great piece by @millervincent.bsky.social on Pope Leo's encyclical on AI: "Leo gives voice to what is widely felt but too rarely spoken: our dreams of flourishing and wellness are being twisted into straitjackets of optimization and everything-maxxing." www.commonwealmagazine.org/flourishing-...
Flourishing Through Limits
Pope Leo reminds us to consider not just what AI can do, but also who designs it, who it serves, and who gets left out.
commonwealmagazine.org
A red card on Balogun but not on the Bosnian player who picked...er ran over...Tyler Adams while NOT playing the ball? Please!
really cannot be emphasized enough that the drafters of the birthright clause very much considered cases analogous to undocumented immigrants and *included them too*
Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · 2mo agoThat's right.
![During the ratification debates, Senator Cowan took aim
at the Roma people too, characterizing them as undeserving
of birthright citizenship because they “wander[ed] in
gangs,” “infest[ed] society,” and “impos[ed] upon the simple
and weak everywhere.”49 And again, Senator Conness dismissed Senator Cowan’s prejudices: “The only invasion of
Pennsylvania within my recollection was an invasion very
much worse and more disastrous to the State, and more to
be feared and more feared, than that of Gypsies. It was an
invasion of rebels [at Gettysburg].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lzlqyldh7nfc34pfffvd24ko/bafkreihrli2ghfantwmdgc4pk4rr4ddt4ajq4xgnggxhs4qv4hojeppmpi)
Ossify is very good: he connects Trump's corrupt actions to the costs that American people are bearing.
Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 2mo agoOssoff: I don’t think many people are tuning in because he’s lost it. But more importantly, what we’re seeing is how destabilized he is by his global humiliation in the Middle East, which he cannot deny or lie away. He has cemented his place in history in disgrace.
I have no idea what it takes to get elected. My first vote was for Bill Clinton and I didn't think he would win and I voted for Obama and didn't think he'd win and those guys won. I voted for Gore and thought he'd win, but. This guy has the right message and energy but I don't know if he can win
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoOssoff: “The election deniers, they tell a lie so absurd, and therefore so debasing to tell, that the act of telling it proves the teller's total and humiliating submission. And you may have seen that one of those election deniers now asks to represent Georgia in the Senate.”
Loved hearing all the support for Iran in LA at the Iran-Belgium game...no one has to like the mullahs ruining their country but we can still stand up like Americans for our brothers and sisters there...love the LA Iranian diaspora representing!
I wish the World Cup announcers would explain more some of the tactics and foul calls in the games. Take the red card against Belgium: for a viewer like me, the foul isn't that much different from others. More context please!
"For Plato, the source of inequality was a disease of the soul that the Greeks called pleonexia — a kind of insatiable greed. In Plato’s 'Gorgias,' Socrates likened this condition to a leaky jug: No matter how much water one pours into it, it will demand more..." www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/o...
Opinion | Elon Musk Confirms Ancient Concerns About the Superrich
nytimes.com
God bless the Iranian team and Iran and it is a judgement on me and all Americans that we do not welcome these people with respect and grace and warmth.
🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁@teamcanadaforever.bsky.social · 2mo ago“Coach says Iran still being treated poorly by US at World Cup ahead of second match” If @fifa had ANY integrity they’d have moved the entire Iran group games to Mexico and/or Canada including next phase if they make. But Infantino is a corrupt c@w@rd sellout and won’t do it, so here we are.
love the beautiful game and the intense Paraguay Turkey match but can't stand all the gamesmanship/complaining to the ref...
I deeply appreciate Steve Schneck's work on religious freedom and I agree very much with his appeal here to the Catholic left to take a new look at the importance of religious freedom in the US and around the world.
Joe Ferullo@joeferullo.bsky.social · 3mo agoWhy a Catholic political activist wants the left to take religious freedom more seriously. Via @bfragancr.bsky.social in NCR … #Catholic #politics #religion www.ncronline.org/news/activis...
I support the Catholic turn to nonviolence and see the risk that AI poses for war and still don't get what precisely good men like Pope Leo mean when they say that just war theory is "outdated": It's that theory that allows us to see the problems with AI and war. www.ncronline.org/opinion/edit...
Editorial: Pope Leo XIV says just war theory is outdated. Catholics should take heed.
In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV has spoken about war, peace, technology and human dignity with the clarity this moment demands. Catholics should now ask what it means to say that just war theory ...
ncronline.org
#PopeLeo nails it: "It is not possible to provide a single, comprehensive definition of AI. What can be stated, however, is that we must avoid the misconception of equating this type of 'intelligence' with that of human beings. These systems merely imitate certain functions of human intelligence.
I fear the point of this whole thing is to overthrow elections. First, invite political violence and/or throw out votes. Second, pardon anyone who is convicted of such crimes. Third, use this fund to pay for their lawyers. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/u...
Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund in the Cross Hairs
nytimes.com
No one should be surprised by this latest Trump scam. He's been doing this all of his life. This is the spirit of the "energetic executive" that the US Supreme Court majority with monumental stupidity protected with its presidential immunity decision. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/u...
Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund Tests Constitutional Limits
nytimes.com
Wow, some epic hoops by Jalen B...
Daniel Thompson@dr-thompson.bsky.social · 3mo agoJalen Brunson just gave us one of the most epic displays of clutch offense that you could possibly imagine. These are all of his plays from the 22 point comeback stretch in the 4th quarter and OT. #NBASky #SkyHoops #NBAPlayoffs
The good news is Elon Musk lost. The bad news is Sam Altman won.
Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 3mo agoReuters: U.S. JURY FINDS OPENAI, CEO SAM ALTMAN NOT LIABLE TO ELON MUSK FOR STRAYING FROM CHARITABLE MISSION, BECAUSE MUSK WAITED TOO LONG TO SUE
San Jose #Catholic Bishop Oscar Cantú, Jesuit ethicist Bill O'Neill, and myself lay out here Catholic moral teaching about current U.S. immigration enforcement policy. @usccbofficial.bsky.social @thomasreesesj.bsky.social @antoniospadaro.bsky.social www.ncronline.org/opinion/gues...
On immigration, Americans must examine their conscience: Catholic tradition can help
Bishop Oscar Cantú and two ethicists write: "It is time for the consciences of Catholics and all citizens to examine policies of detention and deportation in light of the demands of love, truth, digni...
ncronline.org
An examination of conscience on #immigration enforcement written by #Catholic Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, Calif., Jesuit social ethicist Bill O'Neill, and myself: We hope this appeals to Catholics and all U.S. residents. www.ncronline.org/opinion/gues...
On immigration, Americans must examine their conscience: Catholic tradition can help
Bishop Oscar Cantú and two ethicists write: "It is time for the consciences of Catholics and all citizens to examine policies of detention and deportation in light of the demands of love, truth, digni...
ncronline.org
